snipPosted on 05/15/2006 11:42:39 PM PDT by Atlantic Bridge
Today the EU-Commission will launch its improvement-report concerning the entry of both countries into the union. Both countries of the Balkan seem to have massive problems. Is the final decision about their join-in postponed to the January 2007??!
Hamburg - Example Bulgaria: About 173 contracted murders happened since 1990. Last week the businessman Ivo Markov was shot in Sofia on the street. In February the supposable underworld chief Iwan Todrow was hit by deathly bullets. In the last 6 years more than 120 murders or murder attempts happened in Bulgaria and not a single one was cleared up.
In mid 2005 the EU-commissioner for the extention Olli Rehm handed Sofia and Bukarest a long list out that contained some hard "homework". The most important point was the fight against corruption and crime. Furthermore Bulgaria and Romania have to enforce their protection of minorities, their care for the handicapped and do more for the enviroment if they want to become members in the EU. Rehm was also "concerned" about the use of EU-aid and the security of food produced in both contries.
Now an new report is pending. On Monday EU-diplomats in Brussels told that the commnission suggested a accedence in January 2007 - but only inf both countries will do extensive efforts to reform their foul systems. According to those informations the commnissioner hopes to avoid a suspension of the join in to 2008 or later and he wishes to put on pressure on both countries to do something.
It is reported furthermore that the Commission will advise to wait with the final decison if both countries are going to be members or not...
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(My own -poor- translation of only a part of the oringinal article. Sorry for the bad spelling)
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(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
Eastern Europe Ping!
Interesting article, and thanks for the translation!
I did not realize that things were as dicey for Romania and Bulgaria as this article implies. I thought their accession was more or less as done deal. So, what happens if they fail to meet the terms of accession by 2007? Does the whole process get scrapped and have to be redone all over, or do Romania and Bulgaria just get to keep working at it until whenever they're ready to accede?
I can't speak for Bulgaria, but Romania is far from replete of thieves, the roads are filled with potholes and in bad disrepair, packs of ferile dogs roam the streets and be aggressive, and corruption runs amok. Trash often litters busy roadways.
And I love it. :) Well, I feel for the Romanian people and wish them the best, but right now I enjoy visiting their (in many places) unspoiled, wild, and in many ways a nation lost in time. You drive down the road and still see horsecarts drawing wagons down the road (and really have to watch out for them at night!). People still tip their hats at you. And as a tourist, you're still kind of a spectacle.
Romania is great. A beautiful, historical nation...and one without ties to the EU. Friendly people, too. Unless you run into one of the hustlers, thieves, or the gypsies. ;)
Therefore I think that if they do something and reform their foul apparatus properly, nobody can deny them the membership. If everthing stays the same (what it looks like in the moment) the game is completely open since strong political forces in the old membercountries will try to stop their joining in. The formal way to do that does not matter. They are nearly as unwelcome as Turkey in the moment...
It will stay interesting.
Although it is true that Romania is a beautiful nation it is definitly wrong that they have no ties to the EU. In fact they are completely dependable of the union:
The export partners of Romania:
Italy 21.4%, Germany 15%, France 8.5%, Turkey 7%, UK 6.6% (2004)
They need the EU membership more than anything else to develop.
And we still support both of them, nothing can change our stand.
It is not the question not to support them or a question of bad will of the old members. The point is that they have to move and do something on their horrible situation. In Germany we have a old proverb: "Help yourself than God will help you". In the case of those both countries we have to add:" and than the EU will help you too."
We Germans i.e. can not open our boarders to countries where total anarchy and corruption are ruling.
First of all Poland stands to benefit from nearly $23.2 billion in EU funds, available through 2006. There is for sure lots of BS from Brussels, but in the sum Poland has for sure nothing to whine about.
But in other ways, it will lose something, as well.
If you join into a community like the EU you always loose something of your sovereignty. But in this case the profit for the new members is for sure much higher than all losses. Besides of that - everybody is free to stay out or even leave the EU.
You the Germans could give them a good example eliminating corruption amoung your chancellors.
BuHuHaHa! Touché! This is an argument I can not reply... Anyway you know that the problem is completely different.
I understand your complaints, but Romania has really improved over the last couple of years. When I was there last fall, I was pretty pleased with what I saw. The dog problem has been reduced considerably (in Bucharest), and the city in general seems cleaner. I hear more and more foreigners on the street, esp. English-speakers, every time I go there, so tourists are not the spectacle they once were. There are Americans, Asians, Arabs, and a very few Africans. BTW, I've never had anyone tip their hat to me.
As Lando Calrissian would say, "This deal keeps getting worse all the time!" The Brusselsprouts are dragging their heels - they want to have the benefits of trading rights and a larger market without giving up anything in return. Unfortunately, Romania and Bulgaria are not in a very good bargaining position, being last in line.
"First of all Poland stands to benefit from nearly $23.2 billion in EU funds, available through 2006."
Who told you that ?
If you look at Spain, Portugal, Poland, Ireland etc. we gave really a lot in return. Ireland i.e. changed from a rural agrarian country into a modern economy with drive. That would not have been possible without the EU. Big and wealthy countries like Germany pay billions and bazillions to help the poorer member nations. Therefore this girlish whining about the bad bad EU is complete BS. It is okay to criticize Brussel's bureaucracy and the omnipresent red tape. But to say that the EU is not willing to help is complete BS.
Somehow it must be also understandable to you that we have interests that we must keep. It is the same if I would say to you: What about making Mexiko the federal US-state #51 and Colombia the federal US-state #52?
CIA - factbook
Read the article about the economic overview.
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/pl.html#Econ
You will not deny that Poland gets a mountain of money?! I know without any searching in the internet that i.e. Poland gets about 10 Billion Euro/year out of the EU structural fonds. If we add some agricultural bounties to this we already have the sum that the CIA figured out.
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